


Under The Sun Tree

by CelestialGay



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon Divergent, F/F, HEADS UP THIS IS GONNA BE REAL GAY, vox machina - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-13 04:02:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11751597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialGay/pseuds/CelestialGay
Summary: “You should tell her.”The words hung in the air around them, the silence pressing down on Vex’s ears.“I know,”Post ep 35.





	1. Watching

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written in a while so constructive criticism is welcome :)

Watching her twin walk toward Keyleth was one of the worst moments of Vex’s life, including almost dying less than an hour before. She knew what was about to happen, she knew her brother well enough to be able to tell. She and the rest of the party were standing just far enough away to give the two a little privacy.  _ Well, as much privacy as being a part of Vox Machina allows _ , Vex thought, watching Grog’s failed attempt to pants Vax. The rest of the party started to catch on to what was happening. Scanlan snickered and Pike shushed him with a sharp jab in the ribs, it seemed that even in her not-quite-here-form she could still pack a punch because scanlan almost doubled over from the impact. 

 

Vex saw Vax’s hand reach for Keyleth’s and she felt a tightening in her chest, torn between not wanting to watch and needing to find out what happened. She felt Trinket move up behind her and his snout came to rest on her shoulder she didn't stop him, he always seemed to know when she needed comfort most. She leaned into him, her hand moving up to gently scratch the base of his ear and he grunted quietly. She watched them quietly as they talked, Vax standing quietly before Keyleth, speaking softly, her equally quiet replies. Vex sank further into Trinkets soft fur, her heart feeling heavier with each second that passed. She could have listened harder, or even read their lips if she wanted to but she didn’t want to know, couldn’t bring herself to find out.

Then she saw her brother turn and begin walking back towards the group, she could tell from his body language what had happened and she felt a small wave of relief wash over her, though it did nothing to curb the sadness in her heart. Her eyes moved back to the tree, no not the tree but the small red haired druid standing under it, she felt Keyleth’s gaze move from the ground and Vex swiftly turned towards Trinket, pretending to inspect him for scratches, even though she knew there wouldn’t be any. She couldn’t face Keyleth, not yet. Though she was extremely experienced in deception, she didn't trust herself not to give away her true feelings in this moment 

  
  
  
  


Vex was sitting on the floor of her newly appointed bedroom in whitestone castle, her back resting against a snoozing, armourless Trinket. Her own armour was draped over the foot of the bed. She felt much lighter without it, it was a relief to finally be in the comfortable clothing that Pike had shoved into the bag of holding some time ago back at the- back at their home. It was a strange thing having a real home again, Vex hadn’t felt truly like she had a home since their father had taken them. After that home was just wherever Vax was, never a real solid place or people other than him. People never seemed to stay in her life. Even her father, who was a right ass face, didn’t show any interest in the twins. 

It wasn’t as though she cared about anyone other than Vax and Trinket anyway. Until now. Family had never been something she had given much thought to, Vax had always been enough until this ragtag group of idiots had elbowed their way into her life. At first it had been strange having to think about more than two people, it took getting used to, but now she couldn’t imagine her life without Vox Machina. 

 

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the door opening quietly, she didn’t even need to look up from the arrow shaft she was carving to know who it was. “Don’t you ever knock, brother?”

“Not for you Stubby.” She heard his quiet footsteps move over to her 

“Move over.”

“Sit somewhere else”

He sat down next to her anyway, shoving her over with his shoulder and scattering her neat piles of arrow parts.

“Vax! I have a system!” She scolded, leaning forward and gathering the piles up again as best she could without standing. 

“You  _ had  _ a system.” Vax made no move to help her so she elbowed him in the ribs.

“I hate you”

“Ow!” Vax rubbed his side

They sat in silence for a while, Vex quietly assembling arrows. She knew why he was here, what he wanted to talk about, she knew and hoped she was wrong.

“Vex’ahlia,” Vax began quietly and her fingers stiffened on the shaft of the half finished arrow. She was right.

“I don’t want to talk about this Vax’ildan”

“I know”

“Then why-” She began, she was still holding the half finished arrow, taking up her small knife in the other hand she began to carve the notch where the arrow head would eventually rest, a little too forcefully than was needed.

“Because we need to talk about it, you know we do.”

“We don't  _ need  _ to do anything-” wood shavings had begun to collect in her lap and Vax gently reached up to remove the now ruined shaft from her grip. She automatically tightened her fingers but her brother gently tugged the ruined arrow free and placed it next to him on the floor, his arm circled around her shoulders and she leaned into him.

 

Vex blinked hard as she felt the tears rise up and threaten to overflow.

“I didn’t know-” She began, her voice caught in her throat, she took a breath and continued “I didn’t realise until you all left us under the Sun Tree, when she was trying to fix it. It was just us and she was meditating it just hit me and then-” she broke off in a small sob pulling her knees to her chest and she felt Vax’s arm tighten slightly around her.

“If I’d known-” he started

“How could you have? Even I didn’t realise, I should have but I didn’t and if I had I could have dealt with it and it- it’s too complicated.”

Vax grabbed both of her hands in his and turned his body so they were opposite each other on the carpet 

“Vex’ahlia, you are the most important person in my life, and I would never do anything to complicate that. I would never do anything to hurt you and I did today. For that I am sorry.”

“I don't want you to be unhappy because of me- I don’t want to keep you from you happiness-”

“What about  _ your  _ happiness? You have to think of yourself as well, I hate seeing you hurt and if letting go of Keyleth is what I need to do to stop you feeling like this I will do it in a heartbeat. You are more important to me than anything. Do you hear me?”

The tears were coming now and she couldn’t hold them back any longer so she only nodded in response.

 

“Besides, Stubby, you must feel strongly for her, you never cry over girls. Or boys” He added as an afterthought.

Vex let out a half hearted chuckle and Vax shuffled back next to her. She cried into his shoulder for a while and he sat quietly and let her, rubbing small circles on her back. She felt like a child again, they had sat like this on the first night away from their mother in Vex’s huge dark room in their father's house. Vax was always there for her. Always.

Vex’s tears had almost stopped when her brother spoke quietly beside her

“You should tell her.”

The words hung in the air around them, the silence pressing down on Vex’s ears. She looked out the window to avoid Vax’s gaze, the sky was a striking blue, the sun lighting up the leaves of a large oak tree that grew near the outside of the castle, turning the edges a bright golden yellow, Vex noticed a small red bird perched on the tree outside her window and her eyes followed it along the branch.

“I know,” She said quietly into the room, and she felt Vax grab her hand again.

“You and me, Stubby”

She squeezed his hand and wiped the last of the tears from her face,

“You and me, brother.” 


	2. Ruins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thordak is finally dead and he almost took Vex with him.

The smoke burnt into her lungs and stung, clinging there in her chest and pulling memories up from the ashes all around her. The charred skeleton of her childhood home, the burnt bones that had once been her mother. They flashed through her mind as she stood in the middle of the ruined village, smoke rising around her into the sky. The survivors of the city were beginning to emerge from the underground tunnels Keyleth had built, carefully picking their way through the remnants of their homes and livelihoods, many were crying or laughing in relief upon seeing the corpse of the great red dragon lying in what had once been the city square. They had managed to put out the fires Thordak had started during the battle before telling the city folk it was safe but even so very few of the buildings remained standing and those that were would be in desperate need of repair. They were in the main square just outside of the castletop district, Vex could see the rest of Vox Machina scattered around the square, talking to the city folk, healing, comforting, they were all in various states of disrepair though luckily Pike had been with them for this fight. She shuddered to think what the outcome would have been if it had not been so.

 

“Vex?” Keyleth sounded concerned, Vex hadn’t even noticed her approaching she had been so wrapped up in her memories. “Are you okay?”

Vex turned and looked up at Keyleth’s concerned face, she had a large cut over her right eye, blood was trickling down the side of her face, mingling with the sweat and ashes.

 

“You’re hurt.” She reached towards the cut, green healing energy making the tips of her fingers glow slightly, Keyleth let out a little sigh as the cut knitted itself back together.

 

“Thanks.” Vex withdrew her hand but Keyleth grabbed it in her own quickly, lacing their fingers together, “Vex, I need to-” she took a deep breath and a tear ran down her cheek, Vex reached up with her free hand to wipe the tear away

“Keyleth-”

“You almost died.” Keyleth choked out and more tears joined the first, “I thought you  _ had  _ died- if Pike hadn't been there-” 

“Keyleth, she was there and I’m fine okay? We’re all fine.” Vex pulled Keyleth towards her and wrapped both her arms around the slightly smaller half elf, rubbing small circles on her back. Keyleth pulled away after a while, wiping the tears from her face and smearing ash and dried blood leftover from the cut down her right cheek. 

“I thought I’d lost you,” she refused to meet Vex’s gaze, “I thought you were gone and I couldn’t-” She broke off and wiped her face again, but the tears were still coming.

“Keyleth, darling, it's alright,” Vex spoke softly and reassuringly, reaching up to wipe the tears from Keyleth’s cheeks, “I’m here, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

Keyleth nodded and took a deep breath as the tears began to finally slow down. “Vex-” she began but was cut off by a loud whooping as Grog came running over, a laughing and somewhat battered Pike on his shoulders, her brilliant white hair was grey with ash and singed in some places, her armour was dented and she was clinging onto Grogs large ears to stop herself from falling off the goliath.

“WE DID IT!” Grog whooped in triumph and lifted Vex and Keyleth from the ground, spinning them around in a highly ungraceful four person pirouette 

“Grog, stop I’m falling off!” Pike’s laughter was infectious and as Grog set them down Vex couldn’t help but laugh too, watching the small gnome struggle to regain balance on their large friend's shoulders.

“Pike you’re pulling my ears!”

“I have nothing else to hang onto!” Pike was still laughing as Grog reached up, pulled her off his shoulders and threw her straight into the air.

“Grog!” the tiny gnome shrieked in delight and dissolved into fresh set of laughter as he caught her.

Pike’s laughter laced itself into the air and Vex could feel it filling the space around her, even the scent of brimstone and ashes seemed to lessen, the city folk joined in and the square began to fill with relieved laughter. She could see Vax running towards them with Scanlan in tow, he reached the group and pulled Vex into a hug, she buried her face in the feathers of his cape and he hugged her tighter. Vex looked over at Keyleth to see that she was also laughing. Standing in the ruined square, the setting sun lighting up her red hair with a brilliant golden halo, ashes and blood smeared over her cheeks. After numerous reassurances to her brother that she was okay, he finally let her go and turned to hug the rest of the group. Vex looked back at Keyleth, their eyes met and she reached out and gently took Vex’s hand again, linking their fingers together.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Me too.”

 

Eventually they made their way back to their Keep. The journey took much longer than usual, between navigating the ruined streets and the people who stopped them to give their thanks to the heroes who had saved their city. As they got closer to the city wall the damage decreased. There were still abandoned buildings that were beginning to fall into disrepair after months of being empty. Vex tried not to think of what had happened to the people who once lived in those buildings, she hoped they had been able to escape Emon in time but knew in her heart that only very few had been that lucky.

 

It was dark when they finally reached their Keep. Entering the large building Vex breathed in deeply, the air was dusty and stale but underneath was the familiar smell of home. Trinket nudged her forward with his head and she obliged, they all made their way into their old home and said their goodnights moving slowly up the stairs. Vex leaned against Trinket as surreptitiously as possible, almost dying coupled with the fight against her mother's killer had taken a lot out of her and when she finally reached her room she could barely find the strength to remove her armour before she collapsed onto the bed, a cloud of dust billowing up around her. Coughing, she pulled the old dusty quilt off the bed and let it fall to the floor along with the pillows. She crawled to the end of the large bed and, with some effort, opened the chest that sat at the foot of it. She managed to pull out another blanket and wrap it around her before sinking into the blissful embrace of sleep.

  
  


“Vex!” the sound of her name pulled her from her exhausted sleep some hours later and she sat straight up, hands reaching blindly in the dark for the knife she kept on her bedside table. She looked towards her now open door and saw Keyleth in the doorway, her face lit by the moonlight, more tears glistening on her cheeks.

“Keyleth? Is everything alright?” Vex felt the worry bubble up inside her

“You’re okay.” She could hear the relief in Keyleth’s voice, “I dreamt that you- that Thordak had-” her voice broke off in a sob and Vex reached out towards her.

“Come here.” Keyleth moved to the side of the bed and Vex took her hands and pulled her down, she slid over in the bed to make room and leant her back against the headboard, putting her arms around Keyleth and pulling her close.

 

They sat like that for a while, Vex murmuring quiet reassurances and trying to calm her friend. They had been through alot these past few months and though she knew it was far from being over, she was glad to be back home.

“Is it-” Keyleth faltered, “Is it okay if I stay? The nightmares- it will be easier if I know you’re here.” 

“Of course, Keyleth.”

 

They moved down the bed so they were lying down and Keyleth turned towards Vex, moving her arm over Vex’s waist and tucking her head just under Vex’s collar bone. She could smell Keyleth’s distinct smell under the leftover ash, it seemed Vex hadn't been the only one to forgo a wash that night. She smelled like green and autumn and the stars on a clear night, it was heady and intoxicating and so so sweet. She breathed deeply and her eyes drifted closed. They slept tangled together, ash covered and exhausted well into the morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keyleth cries a lot in this chapter but she needed to.  
> I'm still working on making my chapters longer and this one is much better than the previous! Also this hasn't been proof read so if you pick up any mistakes please let me know


End file.
